Thom Brooks is Professor of Law and Government and the Dean at Durham Law Schooland an Associate Member in Department of Philosophy and Professor in School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University. He has held visiting appointments at the University of Oxford, University of St Andrews, Uppsala University and YaleLaw School at Yale University. Brooks taught previously at Newcastle University.

As inaugural Dean of Durham Law Schoolat Durham University, he is leading the biggest growth in the School's 50 year history increasing academic staff from 42 to 75+ over the next few years - building new critical mass in key areas, improving our research capacities, expanding into new areas like Chinese law, reducing our staff-student ratio and retaining Durham's small group tutorials of 6-8 students and seminar teaching at the heart of our enriching student experience. Brooks introduced the first on-site teaching for the New York and California state bar examsin partnership with BARBRI delivered at no other UK law school. Durham Law ranked 3rd in the UK in the most recent Research Excellence Framework. In 2017, Durham Law School achieved its best ever results reaching 40th in QS World Rankingsand 93% overall satisfaction in the National Student Survey. These achievements were recognised by the House of Commons inEarly Day Motion 875 in Parliament.

Durham University is the third oldest university in England and situated in a UNESCO World Heritage Site - Durham Castle is one of the university's colleges. Brooks has stood in for the Vice-Chancellor representing Durham University abroad and serves on several senior working groups and committees covering workload models, an effectiveness review of academic boards of studies, a review into academic administrative workload and several senior appointment panels. Brooks chairs a University-wide working group on non-staff budget allocations. He sits on the BARBRI SQE Advisory Board where he advises on addressing changes in the regulatory framework for qualifying solicitors.

Brooks is active in the UK's Labour Partyas a member and advisor. He is quoted in Labour's policy commission that led to its 2015 campaign manifesto and he advises on criminal justice policy, immigration policy and other areas since calling for key changes accepted in Labour's ground-breaking 2017 election manifesto rejecting arbitrary targets, reinstating a migration impacts fund, launching an evidence-based review of existing immigration policies and more action on refugees. He continues to advise Labour on immigration and he advocates for a number of policies, including: the need for an Advisory Groupon citizenship and immigration, Migration Impacts Reduction Fund, revised citizenship testand a focus on impacts instead of net migration targets -- much of which made the well received 2017 General Election manifesto.

Motivated to learn about immigration from his personal experience as a migrant and naturalised British citizen, Brooks has supported migrants and citizens looking for information about migration for over two decades in the UK and abroad. He regularly delivers public lectures and seminars to improve the public's understanding of migration issues, challenging common misperceptions and a leading national advocate for more progressive policies. He advises the award-winning BBC One drama Call the Midwifeon immigration-matters.

Brooks is one of the UK's top commentators on Brexit playing key parts in the debate from its start. In a public consultation on the EU Referendum wording, Brooks argued that it should be changed to remove bias and ensure consistency with recent constitutional-related referenda. The Electoral Commission agreed and quotes Brooks in support of this change in their final report which was accepted by the government and approved by Parliament. Brooks is one of the leading critics of the government's strategy for Brexit raising serious doubts about whether Brexit is necessary to achieve immigration targets in a column for The Times and whether Brexit will lead to any substantial change - his views are widely covered by the national and international media. Brooks was the first to point out that the recent drop in net migration was not a policy successfor government, but driven by a weak economy and uncertainty over Brexit - with an increasing number of British citizens choosing to leave the UK helping fuel lower migration figures.

Brooks is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Science (FAcSS), the Royal Historical Society (FRHisS), the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) and the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). He was invited for inclusion in Debrett's People of Todayfor its 2016 edition. He won a Faculty Award for Outstanding Contribution to Media from Durham University in 2013 and Lecturer of the Year for his faculty from Durham University’s Student Union in 2014, Law Teacher of the Year from Durham Law School in 2015, DurhamUniversity's Excellence in Learning and Teaching Award in 2016, runner-up for the Inspirational Academic Award from Durham Students' Union and shortlisted for Law Teacher of the Year from the Northern Law Awards in 2015. His book Punishment was named ‘Book of the Month’ by the European Sociological Association. Brooks is the recipient of the 2017 Distinguished Alumnus Award from Arizona State University'sSchool of Politics and Global Studies.

His publications cover topics including alcohol policy, behavioural economics and 'nudges', British politics, capabilities approach, citizenship, climate change, constitutional law, criminal law, criminal justice, democracy, international affairs, immigration, jury trial, just war theory, leadership, political strategy, restorative justice, sentencing, shame punishment and strategic communication. Brooks writes widely on philosophy, including historical figures (Plato, Kant, Hegel, British Idealism) and contemporary debates with special interests in jurisprudence and political philosophy and the work of Dworkin, Nussbaum, Rawls and Sen. His work has also been used to classify whiskey.